Description:
In 1975, Claire Criscuolo founded the vegetarian restaurant Claire's Corner Copia, in New Haven, Connecticut. The restaurant soon earned a reputation for simple but delicious home-style fare, prompting Criscuolo to write Claire's Corner Copia Cookbook, a compilation of the restaurant's 225 best recipes. Devotees of healthful vegetarian cooking that emphasizes whole grains, fresh produce, and seasonal specialties will welcome Criscuolo's book. Providing dishes organized by courses and food or meal categories such as sandwiches and breakfast, Criscuolo's book also reflects her Italian heritage, with its penchant for rich, vegetable-laced soups and hearty pasta entrées. Dishes like My Mother-in-Law's Special Holiday Soup, replete with beans, cauliflower, broccoli, escarole, and spinach, and Baked Rigatoni with Amalfitan Sauce, a marinara sauce-based dish, are savory examples of Criscuolo's Italian-influenced fare. Other cultures are represented by dishes such as Mexican Stuffed Peppers, made with a corn and rice filling; Hummus and Tomato on Wheat Bread, a particularly flavorful sandwich; and Szechuan-Style Eggplant. Criscuolo's baked specialties, including Cheddar Scones, Corn-Walnut Muffins, and Pumpkin-Walnut Pie, are of particular interest. Though the quest for healthy dishes occasionally leads Criscuolo to offer recipes featuring food substitutes or dubious low-fat products, most of her cooking is honest and tempting and should find its way to the everyday tables of all food lovers. -- Arthur Boehm
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